[MPlayer-users] Re: Commercial detection (was: Re: Can mencoder write partialfiles w hile encoding?)

[Jonathan Rogers]

The Wanderer wrote:
> He also has apparently decided that installing -devel packages so that 
> he can install something which is depended on by something he wants is 
> more rearranging, and possible breaking, of his system than he's willing 
> to risk for such a comparatively minor purpose.
> 
> Depending on how much would need to be replaced, and how much might be 
> broken, by such a rearrangement, I would probably want to go 
> considerably further before saying "Okay, this is too much hassle for 
> too little benefit". He is, however, entitled to his own opinion on the 
> matter.

I can certainly understand wanting to avoid global changes to a working 
system. I don't like installing things globally outside of the package 
system, so I've been compiling and installing experimental packages 
(like mplayer CVS) in my home directory. That way, the changes can be 
easily reversed. However, this approach can be a hassle for libraries, 
since one has to pass extra paths to configure scripts and possibly 
change environment variables like LD_LIBRARY_PATH. It's just a matter of 
how much extra work one is willing to put into it; it may not be worth 
it unless one plans to get heavy use out of the tool. Whether it's worth 
the hassle is certainly an individual decision.

Jonathan Rogers